Sky chief says Ofcom ruling to hurt industry

Speaking at the Mip TV conference in Cannes he said Ofcom’s decision to slash the prices Sky can charge for its content will distort the whole pay TV industry and will have wide-reaching implications.

He said: “[Ofcom’s move] is an unprecedented and unwarranted intervention; it is an aggressive attack on the value of content.”

“The UK has a diverse and vibrant set of basic pay TV channels, which have long benefited from being sold alongside premium sport and movies,” he continued.

He added: “You have to question whether the new delivery platforms will want to offer a basic tier of channels at all. If Ofcom’s actions skew the marketplace... the damage could extend to those basic channels.”